


A Silver Spoon

by Umidunnostuff



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: King!amon, M/M, Medieval AU, idk if I'm gonna continue this, its sorta amoneki if you squint, knight!kaneki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:49:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5414027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umidunnostuff/pseuds/Umidunnostuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amon is the king in his kingdom, wracked by war and unrest, and in the middle of it all he is asked to pass judgement on a knight who stands accused of terrible acts. Amon finds himself fascinated by the ideology of the puzzling young knight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Amon looked down from his raised dais with furrowed eyebrows, atop his throne and garbed in heavy rich fabrics. One unfathomable grey eye met his unwaveringly, the other covered by an eyepatch, perhaps a battle scar. The knight stubbornly refused to drop his gaze in deference and respect, as most did in Amon's presence. He sighed, not liking to be involved in this messy matter. Up until recently, he had been at a strict catholic university in the countryside, learning Latin and training his body so as to support his kingdom from behind his father, and then his older brothers, as a third son should. The country had been in turmoil, just a short while after a war with a neighboring nation, domestic unrest had grown and rebel groups had struck down then entirety of the residents of the palace, including the ruling family, and he had been instituted to the crown hurriedly, and now the unrest was quelled, at least on the surface. 

Amon stood, cutting an imposing figure with his large frame, expanded by the rich robes he wore, and drawing the gaze of his assistant Akira and the guards at the door. 

"Leave us." he spoke curtly, leaving no room for argument, and so the others in the room left, albeit with reluctance. As a king, Amon was well able to defend himself, having trained under the Knights at the palace as a boy, and he had an obvious physical advantage over the wiry knight before him. Even so, this was not customary, but Amon liked to judge things himself.

"Are you aware what you are here for, Ken Kaneki?" He asked directly, advancing a step or two forward. This knight puzzled him, showing no signs of intimidation or fear, and no remorse over the acts he had committed. From the report that Amon had read, the short, young knight had killed his lord, an earl who ruled over a relatively large plot of land, as well as many of the Knights who worked for him, who would have been his brothers in arms. Apparently when he was finally apprehended, the walls of the room were stained with blood and his pale skin was splattered until he resembled a monster. 

"I am, your highness. What will you do with me?"

There were muttering that this Ken Kaneki had been involved with the rebel group, which was the reason his family was dead, as well as one of his closest mentors, Kureo Mado. Amon fought down a surge of rage and sorrow, determined to make his judgement without bias. He was aware of the corruption that sometimes pervaded the circles of nobility, and something about the guileless gaze of the knight intrigued him. 

He held no malice that Amon could see, no killing intent. He had been disarmed, and bound, but Kaneki still carried himself in an upright manner, stable and steady. Even though he was clearly aware of his actions, Amon felt the need to stand on ceremony and recite the charges. 

"You, Ken Kaneki, are hereby charged with murdering your lord, to whom you swore fealty, as well as four of your comrades in arms, in cold blood. How do you plead?"

"Guilty your highness," without a pause he spoke, raising his chin, and despite a foot in height difference as well as the added height of his dias, Amon still felt like he was the one being looked down at. The stubborn, cold gaze did not shift from his own for a moment. Amon sighed, relaxing his forcedly regal posture and asking genuinely,

"Why? Why did you do it?"

Kaneki's emotionless mask crumbled just a little bit, just enough to prove that he wasn't made of ice, wasn't completely dauntless.

"King Amon, do you know why the people rebelled and killed the royal family?" He asked in lieu of an answer. The question gave Amon pause. Up until the untimely death of the king and second in line and then the third, Amon had payed very little attention to the state of the country, barely exiting the circle of Knights, monks, and advisors that he had been surrounded by since childhood. He had exhausted following the creed of his advisors and family, and supported their reasoning without question. 

"I assume it was because of food shortages after the recent war. You still haven't answered my question." Amon responded curtly, refusing to let Kaneki derail the discussion. This was a trial for murder. 

"I killed him because he murdered a little girls mother for not being able to afford her taxes, I killed him for making the people choose between food and paying him. I killed him for lining his own pockets, for letting his Knights do whatever they wanted to innocent people. I fought in that war, king Amon, I killed people at the orders of this palace, and I honestly don't see any difference between us and them." His speech grew impassioned, and his face cracked from his mask, the emotion making him appear all the younger, before he stopped suddenly, clamming up. This was a boy of barely twenty, already war hardened and bitter. 

Amon was suddenly struck with the memory of a knighting ceremony, carried out in this very room maybe a year ago. A young knight who was smaller than most others, lowborn, and inexplicably bright eyed and idealistic. He very vaguely remembered the face, smiling and blushing when he was congratulated. Amon had shaken his hand, following etiquette as a member of the royal family. The memory of that day, in brighter times when the war was barely clouds on the horizon, jarred Amon. 

The face in the memory, young and hopeful, clashed with the one before him, a young man who had been broken down by war and tragedy, but still carried the dregs of idealism within him. Kaneki Ken was a good person. Amon found that he could not manage to think otherwise, no matter what the report he had been handed claimed. Whoever had written it, he thought, seemed to have a very basic knowledge of what had happened. Perhaps this was just based on the first missive sent after Kaneki was apprehended. It was obviously heavily filtered, as many of the reports he received generally were.

"Kaneki Ken, I am sentencing you too," Amon paused. Kaneki should really be executed, for what he had done, killed for the cold blooded murder of five people, but Amon could not bring himself to do that to him. Someone as idealistic, as nobly driven, could not have done so without sufficient reason, and so he continued," three years in prison, followed by five years in direct service to the palace as a knight at arms." 

Kaneki's eyes widened. He had obviously been prepared for execution. Amon would not do that, because despite possible ties to rebel groups, he needed allies, free thinkers, and help to get out from under the thumb of the church and of his council of advisors.

Kaneki schooled his expression as Amon called Akira and the guards back in.

"I take it you have sentenced him," asked Akira, sneering at the boy who stood before her. 

"Yes. Take him to the prison for a sentence of three years."

"T-Three years, your highness?" Asked Akira, not bothering to hide her shock. She harbored particular hatred for rebels and their sympathizers, due to the unfortunate case f her late father. 

"But, he killed five people, including his own lord!"

"That is enough Akira!" Thundered Amon. He did not generally raise his voice, but as a ruler he did have to learn to assert authority. She quieted down with a sullen look, and glared at the boy as he was taken away.

Kaneki glanced back, eyes as silver as new coins, and called out to him,

"I do look forward to seeing you again, your highness." His head was roughly shoved down, and Kaneki did not resist as he was removed from the room.


	2. Old and new

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaneki is released from prison, and Amon gets to see him again

Amon listened as Akira rattled through his schedule for the day, rubbing tired eyes. The previous day had been the departure of a foreign emissary, and the banquet preceding it had taken an excessive amount of time and run into the night. Amon did not possess much natural skill at the posturing and mind games that the royal court involved, but over his three and a half years on the throne, he had learned. One particular item on his agenda startled him out of his stupor.

"A new member of the guard?" He asked, struggling to think when he had authorized such a thing. 

"Yes. He was just released from prison. You do remember Ken Kaneki, right?" Was the prompt response. Amon did in fact remember the odd knight, and the fact that he had appointed him as a knight at arms. He had not remembered that this was the day three years past, since their second unfortunate meeting. 

"Right. I will have to welcome him personally." How would the knight have changed, Amon wondered? Though he had no personal experience, generally the prisons were considered a bleak and inhumane place to be. Definitely enough to crush weaker men, though from what he knew, Kaneki was nothing of the sort. 

Elsewhere, a white haired knight was walking into bright sunlight for the first time in years, and also into the welcoming grasp of a small party of people. Kaneki smiled wanly at them, skin paler, body bonier, and undereye rings darker than ever before.

"Hey guys." Was all he said, as soft spoken as ever. He stumbled as a pair of girls, one about his age, and one a young teen, launched themselves at him, clinging to Kaneki desperately in a hug, mindless to his filthy, threadbare prison clothes.

"Stupid Kaneki! What were you thinking getting yourself sent to prison for the sake of a few corrupt nobles!" Chastised the older of the two, though it was clear for all to see that her heart wasn't in it.

"I missed you Touka, and you too Hinami," he said, a frail smile making its way onto Kaneki's face, placed in such a way that it seemed that the muscles were unused to forming such an expression. The second name was addressed to the younger of the two, who was crying too hard to form words besides a garbled version of what seemed to be 'big brother'.

Over the course of the next few minutes, he greeted the rest of the group, including a stately older man, a young doctors apprentice, and the wealthy heir to a trading company. The observing guards would later note that every person in the group had been connected to the rebellion in some way or another. 

A reunion of a few minutes was all Kaneki was given for the moment, before the guards dragged him off to clean him and outfit him in livery suited to a man at arms in the Kings guard. After promises of a longer visit later, he was taken to a bath house, where he scrubbed the grime of prison from his skin, and given clothing sporting the colors of the royal family of Cloenia, as was befitting a knight at arms. They were woefully oversized, but he was given a belt, and returned his sword, currently decrepit and rusty, untouched for three years, before being placed back before the doors of the throne room. 

Amon started as the door opened, having been talking to Akira and assuring one of his younger knights that, yes he did know what he was doing and not to call the new knight a criminal. Seidou Takizawa, the knight in question, on guard duty in the throne room, looked ready to challenge Kaneki to a fight right there and then, so Amon got up and walked forward, towards where Kaneki had kneeled respectfully in the center of the room. 

"Ken Kaneki. Welcome back," he said thinking back to the last time the knight had stood there, eyes defiant and chin up. They had been alone then. Now he was bowed, luminous silver eye downturned. Amon wanted to see them again, wanted to see the idealistic and mysterious man that he admired, not this frail shell of a knight that had been presented to him like a meal on a platter, skin pink like that of a plucked chicken after being snubbed down, dressed in heavy ceremonial livery that was clearly ill fitting, in such a way to hide the protruding bones and bruises that probably mottled his skin.

"Stand, sir Kaneki. I prefer for my Knights to stand in my presence." Kaneki stood, obediently, and leveled his one eyed gaze at the king. It seemed that he had lost his leather eye patch sometime during his imprisonment, because now the puckered scar obscuring the remains of an eye was fully on view, concealed meagerly by a few strands of snowy hair. 

"My lord," was all he said, voice quiet but still solid with conviction. Unsure of how to continue any sort of conversation, Amon opted to instead get on with protocol. 

"This is my advisor Akira. She will tell you your duties as one of my Knights at arms," he said. Akira seemed to be attempting to stab Kaneki with her sharp gaze. Kaneki, for his part, showed not a glimmer of fear or apprehension, nodding slightly in acknowledgement and lifting his chin in response to the unspoken challenge thrown his way.

"You will be placed in the roster for the guard schedule, and report to a superior, who will report to Arima, our captain of the guard. In military endeavors, whether the threats are external or... Otherwise (she curled her lip here and everyone in the room knew which threats she was referring to) you will be expected to follow the orders of your superiors and the king and eliminate them without hesitation." She spoke all of these words icily, in a emotionlessly professional tone, and her sharp gaze never wavered. Kaneki didn't back down himself either, never wavering in his steadfast eye contact. 

"Are you even gonna be able to fight properly, considering you can't see?" Snarked Seidou, not entirely liking the new addition. Kaneki cocked the eyebrow that remained above the mass of scar tissue inhabiting his right eye socket, allowing a small smirk to pass his lips.

"Would you like to test my skills personally, sir...?" He trailed off in a question, voice just barely mocking, hard and biting as steel, hand drifting towards the sword at his side. 

"Takizawa, enough. I want you and Akira to leave us alone for a moment, and then show Kaneki to the barracks." Amon had the respect of his men, and he had also learned over the past few years how to use his voice and posture to the utmost in order to garner respect. Takizawa and Akira both obeyed without question, though Takizawa grumbled, and was nudged along by a stoic Akira.

Once alone, Kaneki's stance relaxed, though he still looked out of place in the stiff oversized clothing, and with his scarred eye exposed. He was raw, half a day out of prison, and thrust into the world of the king and his court. 

"I'm going to assume you don't want to talk about prison? You can purchase a new eyepatch once you receive your first pay." Said Amon, breaking open the silence. Kaneki seemed startled by the statement, hand coming up to tug at his white bangs over the scar. His nails were bruised black, and looked painful. Amon didn't want to think what had caused the injury. 

"Thank you, your highness. I would like to regain one, my eye isn't pretty to look at." He responded, pointedly tilting his blind side away from Amon.

"No- no that's not the issue. You just..." Amon trailed off here, not sure if he really wanted to express that Kaneki had looked uncomfortable. "Anyways, shall I call in Seidou? He can show you to the barracks, the dining hall, and the armory." Amon tried his best to deflect the awkwardness, but a flash of mirth in the silver depths of Kaneki's eye hinted that he may have failed.

"You may not want to leave him alone with me. I fear with the way he was glaring, he might just attempt to stab me, and that won't end well for anyone." The glint of humor remained, but the dark implications of the comment reminded Amon just why Kaneki had been in prison. Eager to change topics of conversation, Amon decided it was time to call Akira and Takizawa back into the room. 

With them there, he issued his orders, brooking no objections. Takizawa grumbled, but led Kaneki out. Just like before, Kaneki turned, eying him with his one shining silver eye. 

"I look forward to serving you, Your highness," he called behind him, before picking up his pace and following Takizawa out of the room. Amon watched him as he walked out of the room, talking to Takizawa too quietly to hear, and jerking his hand away heavily when Takizawa attempted to guide him using it. Amon barely caught sight of the slight shake to his shoulders before Kaneki was out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so incredibly sorry for how long this took, school and life are just drowning me honestly. I hope you liked it, please leave me comments they make me happy.

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this because I want more amoneki, but idk if I'll continue it. I got this off of an au ideas post on tumblr, by purgatoryandme. Anyways, if you wanna go talk about amoneki with me, go to my blog amonekiandstuff and my inbox is always open to new people, requests and headcannons.


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